1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical fiber ferrule end face grinding apparatus and more particularly to a holder that holds a plurality of optical fiber ferrules for grinding the end faces thereof.
2. Description of Relevant Art
Generally, an end face grinding (polishing) apparatus that simultaneously grinds a plurality of end faces of ferrules to each of which an optical fiber is attached (optical fiber ferrules) requires that a plurality of optical fiber ferrules be held in a holder mounted on an end face grinding apparatus. Generally, in this kind of holder for an end face grinding apparatus, each optical fiber ferrule is held in a holder plate by a securing member installed in the holder plate for positioning and holding a respective optical fiber ferrule.
In recent times, devices have been developed that provide more efficient usage of space in order to increase the number of optical fiber ferrules that can be ground at once by enabling one securing member to position and secure two or more optical fiber ferrules in a holder plate. Such holders for end face grinding apparatuses have been disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-254306 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-254307.
However, in the inventions disclosed in both Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-254306 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-254307, the optical fiber ferrule is positioned on each peripheral surface of a polygonal plate-like holder plate (thus, where the holder plate has a hexagonal plate-like shape, each of six peripheral surfaces) and a securing member is installed on each peripheral surface of the holder plate with a screw member so as to hold each optical fiber ferrule to the holder plate. Accordingly, these prior art technologies require that a screw member be used to install a securing member to the holder plate. Furthermore, because this screw member must be screwed into a peripheral face of the holder plate for positioning an optical fiber ferrule, the optical fiber ferrule cannot be positioned in the location on the peripheral face in which this screw member is screwed. The result is that the peripheral surfaces of the holder plate cannot be used solely for positioning of an optical fiber ferrule thereby preventing the effective use of those surfaces.